Home > Letters to CRSteve MacIsaac on Comics on Culture War's Hidden Frontposted June 28, 2006

I don't think you're being paranoid, either, though as a gay creator I admit to being so used to that kind of thing that it just sort of whizzes past. I don't think it's a culture war so much as the status quo; bubbles of tolerance aside, America's not really that down with queer folks. I don't know that comics industry coverage is particularly worse than anything else in that regard; I remember plenty of moral panic coverage around the time BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN was coming out, as well as some vaguely patronizing stuff around THE SOPRANOS gay mobster storyline this season. You articulate all of the standard-bearer assumptions pretty well; at this point, they're almost like old friends, the only novelty in this case being their invocation in the context of comic books.

Be that as it may, I do think it's only fair to note that Alison Bechdel's FUN HOME is probably the most favorably reviewed graphic novel of the year. I'd be curious to know how it's doing in comics shops vs the larger bookstore market. That might be a better indication of the comics industry's current relationship to queer material.